I think James will check in at 195lbs not 190. Best had 4.3 speed, I'm not sure James can match that even though he is fast.
He has a real shot to be a Sproles type change of pace RB but I doubt he goes round 1. Probably a solid round 2 prospect.

Best had better straight line speed and was SUPREMELY better running up the middle than James is. Toss in a bit better blocking ability and pass catching ability for Best, it made him a Top 50 pick and James only a Top 100 pick.

oh... lol
I'd think they'd fix that considering one of their program standards is speed ;)

The purpose of a college team having its players do things like "run the 40" is not so they can cater to NFL scouts or to draftniks, those people can find out the accurate times under controlled conditions at the combine.

The reason Oregon (like every other college teams) has guys run the 40 is to be able to compare players on the team to each other. So it doesn't matter if the surface is fast, or slow, either way it will tell you which guys on your team are faster than other guys on your team. I mean, heck, if you wanted to have your team run the 40 in pads, that would still give you the information you're looking for.

It's just that when evaluating for the draft, all those campus times are pretty much meaningless. Pro day times are mostly meaningless, but not entirely.

I get that everyone on the team has the same circumstances when running. Part of recruiting is to convince players they have the best shot of moving onto the pros.
FO's listen to their scouts and draftniks... catering to them wouldn't be the worst case scenario for a college program to do.

Best had better straight line speed and was SUPREMELY better running up the middle than James is. Toss in a bit better blocking ability and pass catching ability for Best, it made him a Top 50 pick and James only a Top 100 pick.

Couldn't have said it better myself. James is an outside runner, with very little versatility. I actually think Steve Slaton is a better comparison than Best. I could see him succeeding in a "thunder-lightning" type of system but certainly not as a feature back.